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Posts Tagged ‘Development’

Many planners and developers simply don’t like NIMBYs. NIMBYs, or “Not In My Back Yard” is a term given to individuals and groups who can be counted on to sue, delay, and otherwise obstruct any new community plan or development proposal. Developers are accused of being downright evil. Planners are accused of corruption and being in the pocket of said-evil developers. While there are numerous reasons why a planning policy that favors density and transit, and the developers who build them, are a good thing, there is one reason we, including myself, seem often reluctant to engage in. And that is the moral imperative argument.

Gentrification. Often considered a third-rail topic, gentrification has become so controversial that the mere mention of it can elicit strong and passionate debate. Proponents of urban development (not calling it gentrification) say it improves neighborhood because it improves the physical environment of a neighborhood and quality of life for residents, new and old. Critics, however, see gentrification as a tool by wealthy developers and urban professionals to displace an undesirable bloc of the population (read: minorities). But in all the kerfuffle of debate, many critics of gentrification seem unwilling to look at the real causes of the problems they see – the displacement of the poor. Studies are showing that gentrification doesn’t actually do all that critics have long accused it of. By not focusing on the root cause of the poor’s displacement, gentrification critics are just as, if not more so, detrimental to the livelihoods of the very bloc they seek to protect.

Welcome to my new series entitled: Planning Confidential: Everything You Thought About Planning is True. The title is a play on the great book by Anthony Bourdain: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Unlike Bourdain, I lack the years of experience to create a truly entertaining “tell all” book. However, like Bourdain, I have plenty of opinions and a willingness to share them. Over the next few posts under this parent series, I will explore some of my favorite topics in the planning and development field. Some may be serious. Some may be more playful. But it I hope it will all be fun. For me, at least.

If you don’t like it then I’m sure there’s a permit application you could be approving right now.

For some time I have been contemplating West Oakland development sites. In college, I wrote a small research paper on possible effects of gentrification in West Oakland as it related to current development. Most recently, I have talked with more than one person about developing some kind of research facility in the neighborhood. I usually pointed to a bio-medical research facility but it was never set in stone that it had to be bio. Nevertheless, I still think that it would be a great location for some new job sector to take root in Oakland.Read the rest of this entry »